Odisha Civil Services Examination - Pattern | 12 Dec 2025

Odisha Civil services (OCS) Examination is conducted by Odisha Public Service Commission in accordance with the provision of Odisha Civil Services (Combined Competitive Recruitment Examination) Rules, 1991 as amended in 2022 for the purpose of recruiting candidates to Group 'A' and Group 'B' posts in various State Government departments. 

The Combined Competitive Recruitment Examination shall consist of the following successive stages: 

• Preliminary Examination (Objective Type) for selection of candidates for Main Examination; and 
• Main Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts. 

Pattern of Examination:

Pattern of Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination shall comprise of Two Compulsory Papers of Objective types (Multiple Choice Questions) carrying a maximum of 200 marks each and each paper shall be of (02) two hours duration. The question paper shall be set both in Odia and English. 

• Both the Question Papers shall be of the Objective type (multiple choice questions).  
• The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.  
• The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the Candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination shall not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

Odisha PSC Foundation Course

• There shall be four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question shall be deducted as penalty.

Pattern of Main Examination

• The Main Examination shall consist of written test and an interview test. The written examination shall consist of Nine Papers.  
• In which there shall be Two Papers in Part-I which are qualifying in nature and Seven papers in Part-II for assessment of merit of the Candidate.  
• Evaluation of the papers, namely ‘Essay’, ‘General Studies’ and Optional Subjects of all the candidates shall be done simultaneously along with evaluation of their qualifying papers on ‘Odia’ and ‘English’ language in Part-I. 
• However, the Papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject of only such candidates shall be taken cognizance who obtain 25% marks in ‘Odia’ and English Language each in Part-I as minimum qualifying standards in these Qualifying Papers. 
• The Main Examination shall be of Conventional Descriptive type in nature and all Papers are Compulsory. Each paper shall be of three hours duration. 
• The Main Examination shall carry 2000 (Each Paper in Part-II consisting of 250 marks) marks including 250 marks for Interview/Personality Test.

Part-I QUALIFYING PAPERS:

Part-II: PAPERS TO BE COUNTED FOR MERIT

Paper-I:  Essay (250 Marks) 

Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay, to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.  

List of Optional Subjects for Main Examination  

Personality Test 

• The Personality Test will be conducted for candidates who are declared eligible based on merit in the Main Examination for Group A and Group B services of the State Civil Services.  
• The objective of the interview is to assess the candidate's mental capability, reasoning, judgment, moral character, intelligence, and suitability for public service. 
• Marks allotted for the Personality Test shall be 250, and these will be added to the Main Examination marks for final merit and selection.

ELIGIBILITY:

Educational Qualification 

A candidate must hold a Bachelor's Degree from any University incorporated by an Act of the Central or a State Legislature in India or an Educational Institution established by an Act of Parliament or deemed to be a University under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 or a Foreign University approved by the Central Government from time to time. 

Age limits 

A Candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not be above the age of 38 years. 

• The upper age limit is relaxable by 05 (five) years for candidates belonging to S.C./S.T./S.E.B.C./ Women/ Ex-Servicemen and by 10 (ten) years for Persons with Disabilities whose permanent disability is 40% or more. 
• Persons with Disabilities belonging to SC/ST/SEBC categories are eligible for cumulative age relaxation benefit. 

OTHER ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS: 

• A candidate must be able to read, write and speak Odia and have– 
  • Passed Middle School Examination with Odia as a Language subject; or 
  • Passed High School Certificate or equivalent examination with Odia as medium of examination in non-language subject; or 
  • Passed in Odia as a language subject in the final examination of Class-VII from a School or Educational Institution recognized by the Government of Odisha or the Central Government; or 
  • Passed a test in Odia in Middle English School Standard conducted by the School & Mass Education Department of the Government of Odisha. 
• A candidate, who has more than one spouse living or in case of a woman candidate, if married to a person having one spouse living, shall not be eligible for appearing at the examination, unless the State Government has exempted his/her case from operation of this limitation for any good and sufficient reasons; 
• Government Servants, whether temporary or permanent, are eligible to apply provided that they possess the requisite qualifications and are within the prescribed age limit as provided under Para-3 of the Advertisement, failing which their candidature summarily be rejected.  
  • All candidates are required to obtain an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from their Competent Authority and attach it with the online application form at the time of submission of documents. They must inform their respective Heads of Departments in writing regarding submission of their application for this recruitment and obtain “No Objection Certificate” well in advance. 
• If a candidate has, at any time, been debarred for a certain period/chance(s) by the Odisha Public Service Commission or other State Public Service Commission or U.P.S.C. from appearing at any Examination/Interview, he/she will not be eligible for such recruitment for that specified period/chance(s).  

NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS

• Every candidate appearing at the Civil Services Examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted 06 (six) attempts at the examination: Provided that - 
  • There shall be no such limit for the S.C. and S.T. candidates. 
  • The number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Socially & Educationally Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible, shall be 09 (nine). This relaxation will be available to the candidates, who are eligible to avail reservation applicable to such candidates. 
• Provided further that claim for relaxation of upper age limit to exhaust the number of attempts admissible under this rule shall not be permitted in any circumstances. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)